Women In Australia's Political System

Civic participation is a fundamental component in one’s life when they become citizens to a country. It begins with an informed decision to engage as a citizen in the democratic process. There are a myriad of ways in which citizens can be active in society. This includes; being involved in political parties, government-making decisions, joining particular organisations of interest as well as the community and its local affairs. It is through this engagement that one attains a sense of identity. However, barriers can also arise when one attempts or chooses to actively participate in the community. This therefore, hinders individuals from further obtaining a form of inclusion amongst society. This overarching idea is evident in Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech. This speech is an excellent exemplar of how gender roles and prejudice against women can trigger and prohibit individuals from actively participating in society.

When women try to prove what they can do in the society, they are obstructed with societal stereotyping. In the world of politics, it is rare to see a woman hold a post of any political division. The capabilities that women are able to do has always been overlooked by the society and as a result, women, not just in the Canadian politics, but all over the world, have had begun changing these general views towards them. Actions had been taken,

This essay will argue why Canada should take a substantive approach to women’s representation in parliament. Having an adequate representation of women in parliament would be a huge turning point for women and allow their voices to be heard. Each woman holds a different view, just like men do. Each gender and person will bring their own view forth and allow for a diverse House. The issue is that women are not getting adequate representation, and therefore are not being able to represent their views. Men have a much larger congregation than women, therefore overpowering the views/ideologies of them. In Canada, everyone strives for equality, and the best place to start is to take a substantive approach to women’s representation in parliament.

The importance of woman and there role and contribution  to Australia has not always been the same as it is now in the present. In the 1800s woman were not involved in participating in writing a vote for a prime minister and state leaders of their choice and they were also not allowed to join a parliament house and become a leader. The goals of Vida Goldstein and Rose Scott were to have equal rights of men and women in all needs of life like parliament, some of these woman are called feminists (people that want equality of sexes).

Overall, the representation of elected women now stands at about 25 % at each level of government, including on municipal councils, in provincial/territorial legislatures and at federal level. (Parliament of Canada, 2016) With this significant gender parity in politics, the paper examines the causes of the under-representation of Canadian women in politics. Findings are based on scholarly articles and their analyzed data on why do fewer Canadian women run for political office. When taken together, the results presented in this paper argues that (1) unwelcoming environment (women and family unfriendly working environment) with lack of support in political engagement, (2) women’s experience of exclusion, paternalism and systemic discrimination in political realm, and (3) media’s portrayal of women as to be marginalized by the society are what cause Canadian women to be under-represented in politics. Finally, the paper raises an interesting question from the topic of gender disparity into further discussion of the discrimination within discriminated group women other than those privileged ones who are likely to be selected in public

With women making up approximately 50.2% of the population, you’d think they would have a stronger level of representation in parliament compared to the 29% we grip to with heavy hearts. Yet despite the under-representation and the unwillingness to do something about the issue, women are still trying to overcome the barriers that prevent them from climbing the career ladder offered in the Australian political playing field.

In Canada, women comprise over 50% of the population and the fact that they are not present in halls of government in proportion to their population reflects poorly on our democracy. The significant under-representation of women in Canadian legislation has severe consequences that are symbolic; it deprives our government’s policy-making process the input of a significant portion of Canadians. A system that does not adequately represent its majority population calls into question the legitimacy of our democratic institutions. Women’s participation in formal politics is crucial because the quantity of representation will influence the quality of representation in Canadian legislation. It reflects poorly on democracy because the minorities, the white heterosexual men in power, are regulating the majority population. Women need to advocate for mirror representation and not settle for a quota. A quota in our legislation is not enough to ensure sufficient representation of women in decision making. When we have a few women in our legislation they no longer fight for those who elected them in the first place. Instead they are pressured by the majority of men in power to conform to the culture and practices that continue to oppress those who elected them in the first place. When there are enough women in legislature to mutually support one another, we will begin to see decisions that improve citizen’s quality of life. In this essay I will argue that political parties need to ensure

It might surprise you that while feminist rallies and peaceful protests are taking place worldwide, Australia has in fact retracted their level of female political representation in the last five years. While other nations are progressing in their level of gender equality, the drag in women with an interest in politics is largely to

Women comprise just 26 per cent of politicians currently elected to the House of Commons. Only three Premiers are women and municipally, only 28% of city councillors are women and 18% of mayors. Canada is ranked a distant 63rd in the world on the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s list of Women in National Parliaments.

Some people believe women are not socialized in a way that prepares them to hold political powers. Some view politics as a masculine domain. This is a gender stereotype. It is the public’s perception that women cannot make a difference in politics which is often influenced by the

As being two of the most unliked topics in society, when the two of them are brought together we are faced with a conflicting subject. Politics pursuing the image of justice and fairness, and sexism being a differ in equality between male and female. Although no one can truly be non-sexist, when powerful leaders of our country including a past prime minister, the man who conducts the running of the country makes blunt sexist comments toward a fellow female leader’s numerous times and also toward the women of Australia, it is understandable that women feel a need to fight back for equality.

Wilson points out that women are steadily gaining traction in legislature, but at a severely slow pace when compared to other Western democracies. Over 30% of all Democratic state legislator are women. Conversely, fewer than one in six Republican state legislators are women. The chances of a woman winning or losing a political election is no greater than a man’s chances.

genders. Women may have the same political rights, however they are still degraded and seen as inferior to men. So, women in politics are now trying to prove that they are just as capable as men are. However, their attempts are being suppressed due to the inappropriate comments against them. Sexist remarks in the media against female political candidates is the reason why there is a smaller amount of women in government.

The link between feminism and voting is strong, as it should be. For this reason, it is crucial for women to exercise their power to vote. This is important because today, even after women’s suffrage was achieved, the woman’s right to vote is still in question, and for these some, it is still not enough to justify this right. These advocates believe that even though women may legally have the right, they are not competent enough to engage in such activity. To say that the vote of women means nothing and that they lack the competency is by far asinine. Women are not inferior to men no matter the circumstance, but evidently some need a little reminder. It is because of such blatant attempts to prove that women are not capable that the fact that they are needs to be revisited, regardless of how many times, long as this still is an issue and a barrier of discrimination that women face daily.

The High Court of Australia recognises representative government to exist at a Commonwealth level as it is implied in the Constitution. The success of representative government in Australia is highly questionable from a feminist perspective. With women making up over half of the voting population but only 29% of parliamentarians the discrepancy becomes apparent. A common argument for the low percentage of women is that women’s political interests can, and are ably represented by male politicians. Another popular argument is that women are physiologically unsuited to certain positions and areas of work, of which politics is one.